FOS hints at adviser - agent tie-up in failed Harlequin investments

Adviser transacted multiple pension transfers

Carmen Reichman
clock • 3 min read

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has suggested a regulated financial adviser and unregulated introducer were working together to acquire clients for failed off-plan hotel development Harlequin.

The ombudsman found Allan McRoberts of AM Wealth Management Services (AM) had set up self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) for clients referred to him by a former adviser, who was no longer authorised, so they could invest in the unregulated scheme. Their existing pensions did not allow this type of investment. Harlequin worked by taking deposits from mainly UK pension investors to build properties in the Caribbean, with the idea that they could then be sold at a profit on completion or used to generate a rental income from holidaymakers. But out of a scheduled 6,000 properties, it ...

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